I never asked for this blood bath!

My good friend is going to have a baby soon, within the next couple of weeks in fact. She is the wife of my very good friend, he was my friend, my entertainment, my dish-washing partner, eater of my food, my home teacher and when I got married he was even my bride's maid! (although he preferred the term bride's man) I love making baby blankets, my mom and I have tied many. When I found out they were expecting I knew exactly what I had to find. For months and months I scoured for Ohio State University fabric, his favorite team from his home state. I searched the web, combed through local fabric stores, called stores in Ohio and even sent my cousin from back east on a wild goose chase! I had nearly given up and decided I would pay someone much more talented than I am, to piece something together. Then, just this month, in a last ditch effort I tried eBay one last time. Eureka! Two yards of beautiful fabric, my prayers were answered! (Is it okay to pray for dumb things like finding the right fabric? I figure I pray so little that He welcomes any reason no matter how silly).

We tied the quilt last week and it has been my job to cut 3x3 squares for picots (however you spell the word) so I spent hours cutting red, gray and Ohio State fabric into little squares which will then be folded into triangles and sewn around the edges. I've mentioned before that being a perfectionist is both a blessing and a curse for me, right? Today I spent an hour and a half cutting and removing every tie of yarn because I decided the blanket is too crooked.

I threw the fabric into the washer hoping to clean off the red yarn fuzzies and minimize the holes left from the ties. I'd washed both pieces once before, so I threw the white Ohio State top in with the red flannel bottom. (you see where this is headed, don't you?) Heavenly, out if curiosity or inspiration decided mid-cycle to open the lid. He discovered that my red was still very much red and my white nearly impossible fabric find was now a deep shade of pink! He called me into the bathroom, nor sure how to break the bad news gently. I gasped in horror and grabbed for the already soiled linen as if removing it from its current blood bath would undo the damage. Realizing the fruitlessness of this effort I sank to the floor and sobbed unable to do anything but watch as my tears streamed down the side of my bathtub and soaked the rug beneath my knees.

My sweet and ever the optimist husband came to my rescue, calling my MIL who is a seamstress and finding out if there was anything we could do. We used regular Gain detergent with bleach, Carbona Color Run Remover, Rit Brightens and Whitens, Mrs. Stewart's Concentrated Liquid Bluing(twice) and another cycle with regular Gain detergent just for good measure. Six cycles later I again have clean white Ohio State fabric. And I bought a new panel to go on the back of the quilt... gray flannel!

I may find another project to use my evil red flannel, or I may cut it into tiny little pieces while listening to angry music and drinking lots and lots of Coke!